In the Broadway musical Pajama Game, based on the 1953 novel 7 Cents by Richard Bissell, employees at the aptly named Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory want a pay increase of 7 cents per hour.
(Like I said, the novel was written in 1953.)
Toward the end of the second act of the musical, Plant Superintendent Sid Sorokin, who is in love with feisty Union Steward “Babe” Williams, leads the raucous workers in the title song of the show. (By that time in the story, Sid has learned that the company President is a miserly cheat.)
The lyrics go like this:
I figured it out I figured it out With a pencil and a pad I figured it out! Seven and a half cents doesn't buy a hell of a lot, Seven and a half cents doesn't mean a thing! But give it to me every hour, Forty hours every week, And that's enough for me to be living like a king!
Pennies can add up quickly
Today, many small to medium-sized employers generate payrolls that exceed 100,000 hours a year. Larger companies generate annual payrolls with millions of work hours.
When adjusted for inflation, the 7 cents coveted by the Sleep-Tite employees would be closer to 80 cents an hour today. Multiply that by a couple of million hours, and you’re talking serious money.
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